Italian honeymoon

[Mitch Grubman]

My wife and I are in the midst of planning a 2 wk trip to Italy for our 1st visit. We are planning to go the last week in May and 1st wk in June. We have decided to go to Rome, Venice, Florence and Tuscany. We are having trouble deciding the best number of days to spend in each city. We want to see as much as we can but relax at the same time. I was thinking about 3-4 days in Rome and 3-4 days in Venice with the remainder of the time in Florence/Tuscany and surrounding cities. Also, is renting a car the best option for seeing Florence/Tuscany and the surroundings or should we use the train??
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[glassbloweruk]

My wife and I are in the midst of planning a 2 wk trip to Italy for our 1st visit. We are planning to go the last week in May and 1st wk in June. We have decided to go to Rome, Venice, Florence and Tuscany. We are having trouble deciding the best number of days to spend in each city. We want to see as much as we can but relax at the same time. I was thinking about 3-4 days in Rome and 3-4 days in Venice with the remainder of the time in Florence/Tuscany and surrounding cities. Also, is renting a car the best option for seeing Florence/Tuscany and the surroundings or should we use the train??
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi, Sounds like your going to have a wonderful time.
You can visit the major cities by train (Florence, Pisa, Lucca probably Siena but I've only driven there before). Although if you rent a car it gives you an option to see little gems like San Gimignano, San Miniato and lot of other small villages. Although if you only have a few days, Florence will probably take most of your time as there is so much to see.

[Lourdes]

Ciao Mitch!

Like glassbloweruk said, the bigger towns are easy to reach by train - Florence, Pisa, Lucca and Siena (which is actually better to reach by bus since train requires a change).
The smaller towns are also generally reachable by bus or train but require a bit more planning, eating up some of your time - -that is why a car generally comes in visiting many of the small towns in Tuscany (a car is not needed for Florence at all) as well as vaster areas like Chianti or Val d'Orcia (both are whole regions).

3-4 days in Rome and Venice sound good, I'd likely do 4 days in Rome and 3 in Venice and that way you have 7 days to divide up between Florence and the rest of Tuscany. You could use Florence as your base for 3 nights, and then also stay elsewhere in Tuscany (would suggest Siena) or stay the whole week in Tuscany, rent a car and on some days come into Florence to see it (at least 2 days).

What month are you coming? Because a whole week in Tuscany would be great in the countryside at a villa or farmhouse that has been divided into apartments - they generally have apartments for 2 people and larger groups, each with their own kitchen, bathroom, independent entrance and garden area, and a pool to share with the other guests. For accommodation, take a look at this site dedicated to accommodation in Tuscany - you'll find all types of lodgings.

Ok these are just some first ideas which hope will help you in your planning, feel free to post any other questions that come up as you move ahead with the planning!

[JamesBennett]

I am staying in Florence and need to go to wedding at the address below - any idea how much a taxi would be !!

Castello di Bibbione - Via Collina 66 - Loc. Montefiridolfi - 50026 San Casciano in Val di Pesa (Florence) - Italy

thanks
JamesBennett

[Lourdes]

It certainly would not be easy to get there by bus so your choice is car rental and driving there or a taxi or maybe even renting a car with a driver.

As far as taxis go, depending on the route the taxi were to take, the ride is about 28km. That will also change depending on your starting point in Florence. Taxis charge by the KM and several additional charges for going outside of the city, for being reserved ahead of time, baggage if you have any, etc....
While you can get a rough idea of cost by looking at the rate charts of the two main taxi companies in Florence
http://www.comune.fi.it/opencms/expo...ffarioTaxi.pdf
and
http://www.socota.it/tariffe
since you can see that the cost of each km, the best option is to call both and ask directly for rates giving your departure address. Call 055.4242 for one and 055.4390 for the other.

Just as an idea, the second site above says that from Florence center to Greve in Chianti (which is slightly further away) would come out to 60 euros...

But call, that way you'll know ahead of time total cost and you can arrange return travel too!

[Adam]

We spend many time at Italy with my wife and we went many places like Rome, Venice, Florence and Tuscany. I find Venice is most romantic place and want to go there again.